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V12

Re: V12

then the outlook is not good, but not hopeless. When the head bolts failed on my 750 4 years ago I looked high and low for a mech who could actually claim experience pulling the heads off a V12. Nobody could. The dealers were the worst because in addition to having zero experience, they had the wallet vacuum turned up to full and were looking to charge double the book rate. My last call was to BMW's Only in Marysville, were after saying he won't touch V12's, the owner sort of chuckled and said "Jim, you're about to have one of those 'learning experiences'."

Which was his way of saying I'd have to do it myself.

So I did. Successfully. The V12 is not really that complex, but access is a major pain. Probably worse on the 850. I'm spacing on the name of the machine shop I used (it's on Westlake just south of Denny in Seattle), but they were extremely helpful and did good work at reasonable prices.

If you're not a DIY sort of guy, then you might try Ultimate Motors in Kirkland (Lamborgini dealer). They were recommended to me by Precission in Magnolia (which declined work on the V12). Ultimate quoted me $1950 compared to BMW Northwest's $4500, but then backed out due to concern that the headbolt failure might not be fixable and I'd be one of those "repeat" customers who came back expecting more work for free cause they failed to fix it.

Wild thought: there's at least one mechanic on the E32 board who I can guarentee can fix your car. At the prices some try and charge for this work, it's conceivable shipping it to him would be worth it as his price is likely to be more reasonable.

could be . . .

. . . they were never mentioned to me when I was looking in 2000, so I can't say one way or the other. There are a lot of shops that will work on the V12 for less intensive tasks. Unfortunately, the V12 is so rare, and major failures are even more rare, that it's hard to find someone who actually has done and will do internal work at anything approaching a reasonable price. Messin' with the fuel injection or intake manifolds is one thing. But one valve job on a V12 might be the only one they ever do, so the incentive is to charge the owner for the "training" time required to learn the task--it can't be spread out over multiple cars. The owner doesn't "buy" expertise--he pays to train a novice!

Clarification and thanks

I really appreciate all the help -- thank you all.

I have not had a failure, but at 95,000 I should crack the top end replace intake Ms, check banjo bolts, cam, plugs, fuel lines, and all those other little plastic parts. My main concern are the banjo bolts and while in that deep might as well do it all. But, I'm also not interested in paying for "training".

As a DIYer this would be my biggest job todate -- I would look to have some close assistance.

If there's someone on the E32 board that can do this and is interested lets talk further.

Anyway, sorry if I led you to conclude that I had experienced a catastrophic failure -- but I do appreciate you interest and willingness to help me out.

Re: Clarification and thanks

I think you are making a wise decision if you plan on keeping the car--banjo bolts are an issue at 100k. One of the E32 guys--gale hawkins--is a mech who will sell a set of cross-drilled, wired bolts for about what the dealer charges for crummy oem's.

My life is way to full of projects right now to offer a hand (including new struts, control arms, etc on the 750 at 96k miles), though I'm happy to type advice.

If you're a kitchen contractor, an electrician or a plumber we might be able to barter something.

My first advice is that the project just ain't that hard--it pretty much consists of removing and replacing nuts and bolts. No close tolerance, highly skilled stuff; just keeping track of what went where and not finding spare parts left over when you're done. :)

Don't bother with new intake gaskets. The gaskets are pretty much indestructable and the problem is inherent in their design, i.e., it is not a wear item that can be fixed with new gaskets. The fix it to use hylomar gasket sealant when you replace them--it will bond everything in nice and tight. An E31 jockey in the forced induction forum is running a leak-free 10psi boost after using hylomar.